Gov. Polis vetoes 4 bills passed by Colorado Legislature

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday vetoed four bills the Colorado Legislature passed this year, including one that was part of the Joint Budget Committee’s efforts to cut down the state’s budget. They were his first vetoes from the 2026 legislative session.

House Bill 26-1355 would have cut in half the state’s allocation for the final year of a grant program that funds out-of-school programs for K-12 students like the Boys and Girls Club. It’s one of many programs that faced budget cuts to make up a massive budget shortfall.

But Polis said in his veto letter that since the grants are Colorado’s first and only dedicated funding stream for out-of-school programs, it’s necessary to maintain its original budget so the state can best determine the grant program’s effectiveness. Reinstating the $1.75 million the bill cut from the grant program “will not cause long-term or undue burden on the long-term sustainability of the budget” since it is only in place for one more year.

Polis also vetoed House Bill 26-1255, which would have required social media companies to comply with search warrants within 24 hours of receiving one. Polis was expected to veto the measure after he signed into law a different bill that implements a 72-hour response time requirement. The 72-hour response time requirement aligns Colorado with other states, Polis said. 

The bill would have required social media companies that restrict a user’s account to report to the user’s local law enforcement agency within 24 hours any threats of imminent and specific harm. Polis said it is up to the judicial process to determine the viability of a threat, not private social media companies. 

The policy could have created First and Fourth Amendment concerns, too, Polis said, if social media companies need to take down and report posts before it is clear if the user poses a viable threat. 

“The First Amendment does not tolerate the chilling or infringement of protected speech and the Fourth Amendment likely requires more than one report of a policy violation to trigger law enforcement searches and seizure,” Polis wrote in his veto letter. “The loss of constitutional freedom, even for a moment, is an irreparable injury to an individual and to our democracy.”

Bill sponsors said the measure comes in response to last year’s Evergreen High School shooting, where social media posts from the suspect raised alarms ahead of the shooting.

Polis also nixed a bill that would have charged a 5% fee on in-game purchases. The measure applied to online games “reasonably likely” to be used by youth, and the fee would have funded mental health programs for youth. House Bill 26-1418 would have established state-run enterprises to run the programs, and Polis expressed concern in his veto letter around the legality and stability of relying on fees to fund key mental health initiatives.

Another veto parallels a Polis veto from 2025. House Bill 26-1286 would have required large self-driving vehicles that weigh more than 26,001 pounds, such as semi-trucks, to have a person with a commercial driver’s license present in the vehicle to ensure road safety. Polis said human error is the leading cause of motor vehicle crashes, and the bill, like the one he vetoed last year, would restrict future innovation around autonomous vehicles and traffic safety.

Last year, Polis vetoed 11 bills, a record for him. He has until June 12 to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature this year.  

Polis is term-limited and cannot run for reelection in November.